Understanding Depression

Depression

• Depression is a complex condition affecting a person mentally, emotionally, and physically, characterized by low mood, rendering the sufferer unable to function normally.
• These experiences are prolonged, severe, and damaging.
• A collection of physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral experiences that are prolonged, severe, and damaging.
• Depression may stem from irrational thinking.

Features of Depression

• Reduced activity and productivity: Less speaking, moving, and increased time spent in bed.
• Disturbances in sleep and appetite: Sleep and appetite can be affected, either increasing or decreasing.
• Negative self-views: A negative perception of self.
• Feelings of hopelessness: A sense of despair, or helplessness.
• Lack of concentration: Difficulty focusing.
• Sadness and loss of pleasure: Reduced enjoyment in previously pleasurable activities.
• Lack of self-esteem and feelings of worthlessness: Low self-worth and feeling inadequate.
• Possible feelings of anger: Experiencing anger as a possible symptom.

Cognitive Explanations of Depression

• Beck's negative triad: Negative views of oneself, the world, and the future.
• Unhappy childhood experiences: Can lead to negative schemas, patterns of thought and behavior, leading to automatic negative thoughts.
• Negative schemas: Recurring patterns of thought causing automatic negative thoughts.
• Events later in life: Can trigger reactivation of negative schemas.
• Cognitive distortions: Errors in thinking, leading to flawed interpretations of events which create cognitive biases.
• Ellis' ABC model: Irrational thinking as the cause of emotional problems and maladaptive behavior, activating events leads to beliefs which then cause emotional responses/consequences.

Beck's Negative Triad Examples

• Negative views about the world: "Nobody likes me" or "the world is unfair."
• Negative views about yourself: "I'm worthless."
• Negative views about the future: "I'll never be successful."

Cognitive Distortions

• Selective abstraction: Focusing on one negative detail to the exclusion of others.
• Minimisation: Underplaying the significance of a positive event or experience.
• Personalisation: Taking unnecessary or disproportionate personal blame for events in which one had little or no control.
• Magnification: Exaggeration of a problem (e.g., "making a mountain out of a molehill").
• Overgeneralisation: Drawing a sweeping conclusion from a single event.
• Arbitrary inference: Drawing a conclusion with little or no evidence.

Negative Self-Schemas

• Sociotropic schema: "I will fail in personal relationships."
• Autonomous schema: "I will fail to achieve life goals."
• Self-critical schema: "I have many shortcomings."
• Specific examples: Shahar (2008) - sociotropic schema (relationships), autonomous schema (achieving goals), self-critical schema (personal shortcomings).

Evaluation of Cognitive Explanations

• Studies show a correlation of negative thinking with depression, supporting the idea of automatic negative thinking.
• Depressed people experience errors in logic more often than non-depressed people (e.g., Lloyd & Lishman, Hammen & Krantz).
• Difficulty determining if negative thinking precedes or follows depression. Causation is still debated (potentially correlational).
• Other factors (biological, e.g., drug therapies) might also play a role (possible role).
• Cognitive explanations are useful for developing effective treatments such as CBT and REBT.

Cognitive Therapy for Depression

• CBT: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, a treatment focused on identifying and altering negative beliefs and dysfunctional behaviours. Focusing on present ("now" aspect), directed, and active therapy.
• Active and directive: Therapy focuses on identifying and altering current thoughts and beliefs.
• Homework: CBT usually assigns tasks for clients to complete in between sessions.
• Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy (REBT): Based on the ABC model, challenging irrational beliefs and promoting more rational responses in order to improve well-being. (Using the disputing technique to challenge irrational beliefs, and effective attitudes and feelings).
• Strategies: Behavioral activation, thought-catching, cognitive restructuring, pragmatic disputing, empirical disputing, etc.

Evaluation of Cognitive Therapies

• CBT is as successful as drug therapies for depression. It has been found to be just as effective as drug therapies but may not be more so than "being in treatment" (i.e, treatment in general).
• Effectiveness of CBT is often dependent on the competence of the therapist and the individual's readiness to engage in treatment.
• Most effective in the later phases of the disorder when used in conjunction with medication (most effective after acute phase, when drugs can help, and with residual symptoms).
• Potential drawbacks or limitations, like individual variability in response or potential critical considerations regarding its approach (e.g., difficulty determining the cause/effect relation, or reliance on self-reporting).
• Mindfulness techniques are increasingly integrated into CBT to improve effectiveness.

This quiz delves into the complex condition of depression, exploring its symptoms, features, and cognitive explanations. Participants will learn about the impacts of depression on daily functioning, emotional well-being, and overall mental health. Key concepts like Beck's negative triad will also be discussed.